


Zutara Month 2017

by Xamem



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Zutara month 2017, check chapters for more specific tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-02-11 04:45:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12927738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xamem/pseuds/Xamem
Summary: A collection of really short little fics for Zutara month because why not?





	1. Amongst the Fire Lilies

**Author's Note:**

> Coming to the party nearly a week late lol, this one is short but I'm hoping to do a few longer ones once school is out. :)

Zuko was so very much in love with her. The Fire Lady of his country. The woman he had been married to for only a month, the woman he had fallen in love with in the aftermath of a war that had left his country shattered and him to pick up the pieces. She was tending to the flowers, bending the water so it fell in soft droplets, misting the delicate blooms. He debated calling out to her, but didn’t want to break her concentration. Watering the plants was one of the few ways that Katara could openly use her gifts while at the palace.

His people hadn’t exactly been receptive to a foreign woman as the Fire Lady. Everything about her was just so terribly different from, well, _everyone_ : her dark skin, nearly burnt by Fire Nation standards. Her eyes, as blue as the water, a stark contrast to most everyone’s golden amber. Her _attitude_ , which was as fiery as any Firebender, was the worst of all. The people were used to a complacent wife for the Fire Lord, not someone who held her own, who spoke up on policy, who was determined to openly exert her influence.

But Zuko hadn’t cared about the repercussions. The Water Tribe chiefs weren’t particularly happy to have a man who was so long the face of the enemy carve a betrothal necklace for one of their daughters. Hakoda loved Katara enough that he was willing to sacrifice his pride and convince the others that their union was a good decision.

(Not that it mattered. If Katara thought it was right, Katara was going to do it.)

It had been a long road, a hard journey with plenty of negotiations. One month in the Fire Nation alternating with a month at one of the poles, with constant correspondence in the meantime. The nations were fragile, broken but mending. Their focus had to be on their people first.

Even so, Zuko would still take the time to love his wife. His _wife_. He relished the word, memorized the way it felt on his lips. He had never thought this could happen to him. His throne, his honor, his heart – all restored.

Zuko approached Katara, silently hugging her from behind and observing her work. Amongst the fire lilies he would love her, until death did them part.


	2. Tea Shop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically a really simple coffee (tea) shop au, shouldn't need any other tags. Maybe one day I'll catch up. Also maybe one day I'll write my paper.

Zuko hadn't intended to tolerate living in Ba Sing Se, much less start to _enjoy_ it. But here he was, serving tea to regulars at the Jasmine Dragon. And he was smiling. When was the last time he had smiled, genuinely, without reservation? He wasn't sure. Iroh, too, was happier than he had been in a long time - the wrinkles on his face came from laughter, rather than anxiety. He had always thought that Iroh was constantly at peace, a beacon of wisdom and serenity. It wasn't until now that he realized how wrong he was.

Today marked a month since they had moved from the little tea shop they had started in to their own business. A month that Zuko, at first, hadn't thought he could survive. Working at a tea shop was a decent cover while they reoriented themselves to search for the avatar. _Owning_ a tea shop was a life, one he resented and resisted. What kind of honor was there in a tea shop - an Earthen Kingdom tea shop, no less? Built on lies. He had thought of running away, striking out on his own again, but Iroh had insisted he stay. Try it a month, he said, and maybe you'll like it. He couldn't leave him again, so he agreed, deciding in his heart it would be a month - no more, but no less. 

And here he was, on the anniversary of that month, and he didn't want to leave. He'd thought about it every day for the first week. Then they had gotten busy, and he had gotten distracted, and then he had gotten complacent. For better or worse, he was here to stay. 

"Can you take care of that handsome young woman over there?" Iroh asked, gesturing to the front door. "I have to finish taking stock." It was an unusually slow day, only two other customers in the store, already taken care of. Zuko sighed and nodded. Taking care of customers was still his least favorite part of the job - so many asked about the scar, about his family, about their tea, which he only had rudimentary knowledge of. Earth Kingdom citizens were just friendly in a way that no Fire Nation noble could be. The girl's hair was long, falling like a waterfall down her back, the top braided to keep it out of her face. She wore a simple green robe, far different from the typical loud women who came in adorned in various jewels and finery. Her back was to him and she was observing the wall, adorned with what Zuko thought was a hideous modern interpretation of a dragon. 

"Ma'am, I can seat you if you're ready." Her shoulders stiffened, an almost automatic response. Had he done something wrong? She hadn't even seen his scar yet. 

She turned slowly, backing herself against the wall and bringing her hands to one hip in one fluid motion. _"Zuko,"_ she hissed, and his eyes widened in recognition. 

"Katara?" he whispered. This was it. This was the end. She was going to blow their cover, or turn them in, or maybe just kill him now. He wouldn't put it past her. 

"What are you-" They both started at the same time, then stopped. She kept her tense posture. He attempted to relax and appear as nonthreatening as possible. 

"I work here. We work here, I mean. Uncle bought the shop and we've been serving hot leaf juice since then." He shrugged and cringed. What was he supposed to say? Sorry for trying to capture and kill your friends? 

"You work _here_?" she said. She straightened, not removing her hands from where he was sure a jug of water was but relaxing all the same. It was progress. 

"Yeah, and if I could seat you, I'd be able to do my job. People are starting to stare." By people, he meant Iroh, who was staring from behind the counter in a way that he thought was subtle but clearly wasn't. "Or you could, um, leave. I wouldn't blame you." 

Katara hesitated, clearly torn. And then she did what he never would have expected: she stepped forward. 

"I came for tea," she said, "and I was told this was the best place in town. So I'll stay." Zuko swallowed the substantial lump in his throat. Katara was both quick on her feet and quick with her mind. It was entirely possible that she could be planning a better way to expose them. He couldn't kick her out now, and he could only hope and pray that she would keep her mouth shut. 

"So you... like tea." _Stupid,_ he thought, _She wouldn't be here if she didn't like tea._

Katara sat, turning a quizzical eye to him. "Don't you?" 

Zuko shook his head. He didn't understand the appeal. It was too bitter, and even sweetened with honey, it was a strange taste. Much like Iroh's advice, it was good for the body but often unpleasant to take in. "Uncle would recommend the white jasmine." 

"I trust him." She wouldn't look him in the eye, instead focusing on her hands, only a few shades lighter than the table. Even with her Earth Kingdom garb, she stood out from the crowd. It was something they had in common. "Can I trust you?"

Zuko touched the table, his paler fingers nearly brushing hers. "Absolutely." It surprised him, this admission, the only part of this interaction that hadn't been hesitant. But he knew that he meant it, that they were forming a little contract of trust in this corner of the tea shop. He could trust her to not expose them, if she could trust him to leave them be. 

He brought her order to Iroh, watching him make the tea, then subsequently watching her bend it subtly, swirling it in the cup. For once, everything was peaceful. Maybe life in Ba Sing Se wasn't so bad after all.


	3. Painted Spirits (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara continued her vigilante work as the Painted Lady after the war was over. One night, she runs into a fellow masked spirit whose intentions she can only guess.  
> Tags: No explicit or graphic content. Post-War, AU where Katara and Zuko kept their secret identities. Also, part one of 2. ;) Day 11 bc I'm t r a s h

Katara sat in front of the mirror, applying the red paint with a deft finger. It was a full moon, and she could feel her blood pumping harder, her veins pulsing just below the skin. Scattered clouds provided cover. It was the perfect climate for a night as the Painted Lady.

Disguise finished, she fastened her hat and crawled out the window. Chances were Aang was pacing the halls, another sleepless night in the aftermath of the war. A few months had passed since Sozin’s Comet, and victory hadn’t come cheap. Decisions had to be made to further negotiations with the Fire Nation, decisions that no twelve-year-old should have been forced to make. But he couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t dream, he couldn’t breathe. She didn’t want to run into him and have to console him. Any other night, perhaps, but not tonight. Tonight was for these people. 

Although her room was on the third floor of the temple it faced the ocean, and she was able to easily descend, using the waves to catch herself. Once she was sure that nobody had seen her leave she created an ice flow, quietly propelling herself across the water. The village she was visiting was only ten minutes south as the messenger-hawk flew, a straight shot across the water. The council that had been hastily assembled to deal with legislative duties after the war had decided this village was low priority. Katara, after seeing the pollution and destruction that had been wrought, thought otherwise. 

She touched down on the beach of the small island village. She still found it hard to believe that anyone had thought it was a good site for weapon factories, and yet somehow they had been approved. Now that the war was over, the factories sat abandoned and the water was murky, a muddy mess, just like Jang Hui had been. Jang Hui, where Katara’s alternate persona had been created. 

Katara hadn’t meant to take it this far – the first time she had delayed their travels by days, had lied to her friends to help those strangers. At first, she had vowed never to do it again. But she was beginning to realize that she had more power as an anonymous spirit than as young Water Tribe girl, especially now that the war was over. Even as the girl who was instrumental in defeating Azula, many thought she was still a child, not fit to be making decisions with world leaders. 

So it had happened again. She had donned the paint, the dress, the personality, and had started walking. She hadn’t had a plan, but it was nice to know that she had influence, that these people appreciated her work in a way the privileged council never could. 

A soft noise came from her left and she turned, water whip at the ready. There were still rebels out there, those who thought that Ozai was the rightful Fire Lord and wouldn’t take kindly to a waterbender in their midst. Seeing nothing, she continued, remaining ever alert for possible danger. 

Mentally, she cursed herself for not inviting Toph. She was impulsive, headstrong, and loved a little rule-breaking. This would have been a perfect task for her, and not just because it involved removing contaminants from the polluted water. The more solid chunks were more difficult to sift out, and she was beginning to wonder if it would be better to leave it for another night when the same rustling sound caught her attention. 

_It’s probably just one of the neighborhood children,_ Katara thought. If a rebel was around, they would have attacked by now; they were neither sneaky enough to surprise her, nor smart enough to think to try. 

Children, on the other hand… Children were fine. They were innocence and hope and if the Painted Lady brought them that light, then so be it. Katara paused her work and turned, smiling as she did so. The smile twisted and froze when she saw not a child but a man, clothed entirely in black with the exception of a garish blue mask. Before she had the chance to respond or defend herself he lunged, plummeting them both into the murky water.


	4. Painted Spirits (Part 2)

Katara kicked herself free of her assailant, relying entirely on instinct as she surrounded them in a hasty air bubble. It was small and shaky, but the best she could do under the circumstances. It wasn’t like he had managed to submerge her that deeply, anyways. The two of them popped above the water, her red paint smeared, his mask slightly askew, revealing a patch of pale skin. A pointed chin.

Katara took advantage of the man’s brief dazedness and propelled herself away, forming the water in a protective arch. He was a fool, to submerge her in her own element. She was deciding if she should freeze him where he floated or knock him unconscious so she could finish her work and flee when he spoke. 

“I promise I’m looking out for your best interests,” he hissed, and the voice, though low and strained, was familiar. As if he were purposefully trying to disguise it. “I need you to trust me. Waterbenders aren’t safe in this town.” 

“I’m not-” 

“You don’t have to pretend,” he interrupted. “I know you aren’t the Painted Lady. Her eyes are brown, not the ocean blue thing you have going on.” 

“And how would you know?” she said, doing her best to express all the authority she could muster. “A spirit is capable of taking any form they please.” 

“I know it’s you, Katara,” the man said, and Katara narrowed her eyes, trying to place the voice. When she finally placed it she gasped, the waves growing rougher in reaction to her emotions. 

“Zuko?” What was he doing here? He was supposed to be at the Fire Nation palace, signing laws and making diplomatic visits. Not out here, interrupting her vigilante mission. Zuko ripped the mask off his face, confirming his identity with the vivid red scar. He appeared more annoyed with her than concerned, drips falling from his sopping wet hair. 

“Because there have been reports of rebels out here; I wanted to check it out without bureaucratic nonsense getting in the way. And then _you showed up_ ,” he spat. “I don’t know how your gang always manages to get in the way of my plans, even when we’re fighting for the same people.” 

Katara bent the water so she towered over him, and he shrunk back, perhaps realizing that tackling the waterbender into her own element had been a poor idea. “And what does _that_ mean? I’m perfectly capable of defending myself, in case the war didn’t teach you that.” She was surprised at the sudden swelling of emotion in her voice. Of everyone in the group, Zuko had never treated her like a child. He had trusted her to make her own decisions and to fight her own fights, to be a fighter and not just a healer. 

Zuko flinched at her ire. “I wasn’t trying to imply you needed to be rescued. But your headstrong nature tends to get you in a lot of trouble.” 

He wasn’t wrong, and she knew this, but she didn’t care. Why should she care about trouble when even that was safer than the situation these people were in? 

“I won’t turn my back on them,” Katara whispered, the anger cracking out of her voice. “I won’t, Zuko. You can’t stop me.” A beat of silence. 

“I’m not going to. I think the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady might be better as a team.” 

Another beat. "Perhaps you're right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that took, like, weeks. But at least I finished four prompts, even if it was in 2018. Lol! Thank you so much for everyone who left kudos, I really appreciate it. It's been a long time since I've written fic. <3 Maybe next time I'll actually be able to do the prompts on time.


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